Advocacy

YALSA's advocacy and activism goal in the association's 2012 - 2014 Strategic Plan is "teen and young adult library services within all libraries are highly valued as a result of YALSA’s advocacy and activism efforts." The 2012 PLDS Survey indicated that only 1 in 3 public libraries has a young adult specialist on staff. Recent studies from the NCES indicate that only 79% of secondary schools employ a school librarian. Ongoing advocacy efforts can help ensure that all teens have access to great libraries! Why advocate? Because you are the voice for the teens! Help ensure that 100% of libraries have the staff, budget and resources needed to serve the nation's 42+ million teens. Share your advocacy ideas, successes and challenges with us on Twitter by using the #act4teens hashtag.

What You Can Do

Tools to Get You Started

If you have 5 minutes or less...

Spread the word: share this brief video with library supervisors, school principals, elected officials, policy makers and other local VIPs, or link to it from your site. Send them this Fact Sheet from IMLS "How Library Programs Benefit Teens" (.pdf)

If you have an hour...

Give a presentation to your coworkers or colleagues at a library workshop or conference. YALSA has created a presentation on advocacy that you are welcome to download and use. It's called Dipping Your Toe in the Advocacy Pool.

Reach out to Local VIPs to educate them about the great things your library does for teens. Use this free online toolkit to help you.

Send a resolution in support of libraries to an elected official in your state and ask them to sponsor it in the state legislature. Everything you need is in this MS Word document.

If you have lots of time...

Start a Teen Friends of the Library Group with free resources from UFL, including this online tip sheet.

Attend National Library Legislative Day in Washington DC with your state delegation, or brief your state delegation on teen services issues and give them YALSA handouts, including talking points and key legislative issues. In the past teen services issues have not been well represented at Legislative Day simply because not many teen services or secondary school librarians have taken an active role. Request free materials via this online form.